The plethora of Psylocke’s key books separated across the first appearance of the character, first time gaining powers, first US appearance, and first time using heroic alias, is reminiscent to that of Carol Danvers/Ms. Marvel/Captain Marvel library of keys. Quite a lot to keep track of. On a side note, with the Black Knight part of the Captain Britain and Black Knight movie rumor coming true; perhaps there’s an off chance that Captain Britain can still come through; and even further off-off chance that his twin sister Psylocke returns to the big screen. One can only hope.

Moving forward, here we will take a closer look at the current market of the various Psylocke key comic book.

 

 

CAPTAIN BRITAIN #8 (1976)

Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock, the character who would later become Psylocke, first appeared in a book published overseas; specifically, in Marvel UK’s Captain Britain #8 as the title character's twin sister. Interestingly, when Betsy was first introduced, she didn’t have psionic powers; only the ability to pilot airplanes. The sales for Captain Britain #8, graded CGC 9.6 and 9.4 are shown below, which represent the top 39.4% and 61.0% of the census.

After retracing all the gains due to the hype surrounding 2016’s Apocalypse movie, sales prices of Captain Britain #8 finally bottomed out in early 2017. Roughly half a year to undo the entirety of the three years of gains before the movie; the speed is rather impressive. The good news is that in the past year, sales prices have managed to turn around and even began moving upwards. This is even more impressive when you take into account that the change in sentiment occurred without Psylocke appearing in 2019’s Dark Phoenix movie or any other future movie news.

 

 

OTHER UK KEY ISSUES

A few of Betsy Braddock’s other UK key comic books that precede her US appearance include her first use of psionic powers, which was in Captain Britain #34 (1977). Another UK key is Betsy’s first appearance as Captain Britain in Captain Britain #12 (Vol. 2, 1985), in which she takes on the identity when her brother leaves the country. Both books can be found at prices in the $10-20 level.

 

 

NEW MUTANTS ANNUAL #2 (1986)

A decade after Betsy’s first appearance in the UK, she finally found her way to the US with her first US appearance in New Mutants Annual #2. In this issue, Cypher and Warlock try to save Betsy, following her kidnapping by Spiral and Mojo. The premium placed on the first US appearance is rather interesting; given that a large number of UK books with Besty exist, and that little emphasis is placed on reverse situations. Below are sales for New Mutants Annual #2, graded CGC 9.8, which represents the top 12.6%.

Overall, New Mutants Annual #2 experienced similar market trends as Captain Britain #8; sales prices fell following the Apocalypse movie and reversed in late 2017. A difference between the two is that the change from a negative trend to a positive trend is far more distinct with this book; forming almost a perfect “V” shape. Another difference is New Mutants Annual #2’s sale prices have been sideways throughout 2019; it would be necessary to keep a close eye on this to see whether it breaks upwards or downwards over the next few months.

 

 

UNCANNY X-MEN #213 (1987)

An examination of Psylocke’s key comic books would not be complete without the book in which Betsy joined the X-Men and first took on the “Psylocke” name, Uncanny X-Men #213. Sales for Uncanny X-Men #213, graded CGC 9.8 (the top 22.1%) is shown below.

The market does not appear to hold Uncanny X-Men #213 with as much monetary regard as the other keys above. From 2015 to present, sales prices have been mostly flat. This includes a few higher-priced sales surrounding the Apocalypse movie, but a substantial decrease in the volume of sales around the same period. It would be safe to assume that sellers held their books to see what the market would do; unfortunately, nothing happened. The volume of sales began to flood back into the market in 2017 at the same prices as before. It was flat for two years until a change to the negative side in 2019. Compared with Captain Britain #8 and New Mutants Annual #2, this book holds far less potential.

 

 

THE BOTTOM LINE

  • Captain Britain #8 (1976) - HOLD
  • New Mutants Annual #2 (1986) - HOLD
  • Uncanny X-Men #213 (1987) - SELL

 

 

“Here I go. Alone. Armed. Facing impossible odds. Crawling through a ventilation duct. As Jubilee would no doubt say, ‘... eat your heart out, Bruce Willis!’" - Psylocke

 

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